中國寓言故事雙語版 第99期:對牛彈琴

Gong Mingyi was a famous musician in ancient times, who played the lute very well.

公明儀是古代一位很有名的音樂家，彈得一手好琴。

One day, while playing the lute indoors, Gong Mingyi saw a cow eating grass leisurely outside the window.

有一天，他在室內彈琴，看見一頭牛在窗外悠閒地吃着草。

He had a sudden whim to play some melodies for the cow. He first played the “Exercise of Qing Jiao”,

他忽然想彈幾曲給牛聽聽。他先彈了一曲“清角之操”。

but the cow still kept on eating grass with head lowered. He seemed to realize that the melody was too highbrow for the cow to understand.

可是，牛還是跟剛纔一樣，只顧低着頭吃草。他似乎意識到，這支曲子太高雅了，牛沒有聽懂。

So he played several other melodies, imitating the buzzing sounds of swarms of flying mosquitoes, and the bleats of a calf looking for its companions.

於是，他彈了另外幾支曲子，模擬蚊子成羣結隊飛來飛去的嗡嗡聲;模擬小牛犢尋找夥伴的眸眸叫喚聲。

At this, to his surprise, the cow stopped eating grass, but raised its head, pricked up its ears, wagged its tail and, pacing up and down in small steps, began to listen attentively.

這樣一來，這頭牛竟然不吃草了，擡起頭，豎着耳朵，甩着尾巴，邁着小步，留心地傾聽起來。